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What can I say for myself? At least it wasn’t happy chicken.

Every week, I post a picture of the food that has gone bad over the last seven days. Why do I do this? Because in March of 2008, I finally got fed up with the amount of food I was wasting, and I thought that showing my waste to other people would motivate me to use up my food instead of wasting it. Because this often embarrassing practice was so helpful for me, I invited other bloggers to join me in posting their food waste photos, and Food Waste Friday was born.

I wasted some meat.

I hate it when I do that. Meat isn’t compostable in my home compost pile, and since meat takes so much effort to produce, it feels especially bad to waste it.

But you know what?

I think part of the reason I wasted it is that it wasn’t happy chicken meat.

The local chicken I’ve typically been buying is really yummy, and I’m pretty inspired to eat it even when it’s leftover. This chicken didn’t taste outstanding the first time around, and I think that’s why it sat it in the fridge until it went bad.

So, this is interesting…it could partially justify the higher price of the good chicken.

What else is there? A small piece of pizza and the last of a bag of spinach.

The last bits of a bag of spinach always seem to be the death of me.

I did save a mushy pear by freezing it to use later when I make some Korean Grilled Short Ribs.

And we ate our way through tons of garden cucumbers before they went bad.

Also, I saved some bad bananas by making banana chocolate chip muffins.

Ooh, and I added a very brown avocado to our smoothie the other day, and none of my avocado-hating kids even noticed.

Score.

Plus, I think the only current leftover in my fridge is some pasta salad, so that’s a cheerful thought. Maybe next week will be better!

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rachel

Monday 13th of August 2012

i just wanted to say i feel sad about you saying at least your chicken waste wasn't 'happy' chicken. while it is cheaper to waste unhappy chicken, the idea of a chicken living this horrible and terrible life, dying, and then being thrown in the garbage is even worse. i dont know, it just really bothered me. i love your site and have been working hard on food waste here, but your title made me feel really sad.

Kristen

Monday 13th of August 2012

Hmm, that is true. The only reason it's less awful is that I paid less for it. But, yes, I can see your point.

Evon

Sunday 12th of August 2012

This week I did manage to use an entire bag of spinach. I used some in a chorizo frittata with cherry tomatoes. It was very delicious. I also use spinach as the base for most salads because I really don't see any benefits in eating lettuce. I make small salads because I only have myself and my fiance to cook for. So we normally finish up all the salad in one meal. If I do have any salad veggies left, I'll normally throw them into a frittata, too. I never add the dressing straight to the salad bowl because of this. And then if I have just a little spinach left and I'm all "frittata-ed out," I'll just saute the leaves in a little bit of olive oil with a clove of garlic. Season it with some salt and pepper, add some lemon juice if you have it on hand. It's delicious! I normally just make it for myself since it's such a small amount anyway, and I love spinach.

Jennie @ centssaved.com

Saturday 11th of August 2012

This was our worst week in nine weeks of focusing on not having waste. I am glad that I had to gather and take a picture or I wouldn't have realized. This will make us try harder next week!

H

Saturday 11th of August 2012

I get the whole "trying-to-avoid-waste-food", as we do it here as well.....What I can't quite grasp is the concept of making a dish or dessert that you weren't planning on making just to use up something that is on the verge of going bad. Example being the Banana Chocolate Muffins mentioned in the post above. So, instead of tossing a banana or two they were used, but so were other ingrediants that could have been saved for a future use and will now have to be replaced.

Thoughts???

Kristen

Monday 13th of August 2012

So many others have responded before me, but I'll throw my thoughts out too. Skirnir and WilliamB pretty much said what I would have said. The muffins definitely don't cost $7, and my kids ate them for breakfast the next morning instead of the whole wheat bread they usually eat. The whole wheat bread stayed in the freezer for another day.

The muffins probably cost a bit more than the whole wheat bread that is our staple for breakfast toast, but I didn't have to throw out bananas, and my kids enjoyed the treat. : )

At this point in my life, saving the bananas was worth more than saving the dollar or so (the guesstimated difference between the cost of the whole wheat bread and the muffins.) But not everyone has the same priorities I do, and for someone else, perhaps composting the bananas would have been a better choice.

EcoCatLady

Sunday 12th of August 2012

Um... seriously? You kinda lost me with this one. If the other ingredients were used and eaten, then nothing was wasted. The only possible way this makes any sense at all is if every single ingredient you purchase is already destined for a recipe the moment it comes into your house... so do you only buy 2 cups of flour at a time? Perhaps you do... although I personally cannot imagine trying to cook that way. I just keep a nicely stocked pantry and then create meals around whatever is ripening in the garden or happens to be on sale or in season at the store.

I'm still trying to figure out how using an ingredient for something other than it's original purpose is wasteful. If it gets used, then it gets used... isn't it the same in the end?

Skirnir Hamilton

Saturday 11th of August 2012

Personally, I think it depends on if the thing you make, really is something that would be enjoyed. I mean, the ingredients were purchased to be used, not saved forever. But if the item you make isn't used and enjoyed, then probably you aren't saving much. For me, making banana bread when I have bad bananas is thoroughly enjoyed in my house. It typically takes over my sons waffles at breakfast. And I am sure making banana bread is fairly cheap to make. So to me that works. Now, if I want to use up strawberries and I decide to make strawberry freezer jam and have to go buy some freezer pectin, well then it may be worth it, or it may not, dependent on how much people like the finish product. Will it save me from having to buy more jelly later in time? Or will we not like it? IE I would rather not make something I have never made before to use up leftovers of something or have to buy something to make that dish/item. Making cookies, seems a bit more frivolous to me, but as my hubby is underweight, and I need to encourage him a bit to eat more, and I can always take cookies to church on Sunday, seems worth it to me. So I guess in the end, you have to decide for yourself if saving that item by making whatever is worth it or not.

Skirnir Hamilton

Friday 10th of August 2012

I don't think we had any waste this week. Managed to use up my homemade barbecue sauce tonight. My husband finished off the not so great take out lo-mein for lunch. The homemade bread is quickly disappearing. I do believe I need to freeze some of my chili in one cup serving sizes soon. Wish I could manage to empty out my freezer a bit more. The more I try, the fuller it seems to be. I swear I take something out of the basement freezer and it looks just as full afterwards as it did before I took it out. *sigh* Oh, well, we are planning to cook up a ham soon, so that should help empty it out some!

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